Wise-Knut 



B j or nstj erne Bj ornson 









:..i'.'. 



I 







Book -hU S? 
Copyright N° 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



WISE-KNUT 




\ 



BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON 



WI SE-KN UT 



BY 

BJORNSTJERNE BJORNSON 

From the Norwegian 
by Bernard Stahl 



BRANDU'S 

767 Lexington Avenue 
NEW YORK 






^p x 



Copyright, 1909 
By 

BRANDU'S 



THE PREMIER PRESS 
NEW YORK 



ICU253: 



Just a Word 

A T a time when the book-counters 
groan under the weight of Su- 
pernatural Studies, Fantastic Mani- 
festations, the Mysteries of Spiritu- 
alism, Scientist and New Thought 
literature, etc., it may interest not 
only the followers of Mrs. Eddy, Dr. 
Sears, the late Dr. Lombroso, Pro- 
fessor James, Dr. Stead and others 
of the cult, healers and investigators, 
but also the public at large to be- 
come acquainted with a sane little 
book written by the well-known 
Norwegian philosopher and author 
Bjornstjerne Bjornson. 

This work was published in Nor- 
way about forty years ago. 



WISE-KNUT 



Let me ask you, gentle reader, to 
compare it with the voluminous pub- 
lications of to-day dealing with a 
similar subject. 

The comparison, I'm quite certain, 
will be a great and genuine surprise 
to you. 

First because Bjornson in a con- 
densed, simple form describes many 
of the newest and moststartling phe- 
nomena of to-day as exhibited in the 
useful life of a peasant a century or 
more ago. 

Secondly, because it must greatly 
astonish you to find this modest peas- 
ant healer and seer possessed of a gift 
which is shown to have been even 
more powerful and wonderful than 
that of many a famous healer, seer 
6 



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and "wizard" performing in costly 
churches in the midst of richly 
dressed people or in large halls. 

Thirdly, because of late the inter- 
est of the world has been stirred by 
the telepathic communications and 
spiritistic phenomena transferred 
from another world to Mme. 
Eusapia Paladino the famous Italian 
medium. 

And so many and so wonderful are 
the manifestations, so earnest is the 
belief of reputable scientists and 
famous authors essaying their differ- 
ent inquiries into the ways of me- 
diums and disembodied spirits, that 
the most skeptical are forced to stop 
short and listen. 

I myself stood still for a long 



WISE-KNUT 



while listening intently to the start- 
ling accounts of the Paladino 
seances and to stories of telepathy, of 
healings, of phantasms and appari- 
tions until I was compelled to take a 
long deep breath. And while so do- 
ing I suddenly remembered a book 
by Bjornson entitled "Wise-Knut" 
that I as a boy of fifteen had read 
with unbounded wonder and curi- 
osity. It is.this book that I have now 
had the pleasure of making avail- 
able to American readers, and I have 
tried to imitate so far as possible the 
sweet and simple expression of the 
author. 

Am I mistaken in my belief, I 
wonder, that Bjornson — uncon- 
sciously perhaps — forty years ago 
8 



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touched a still new and wonderful 
field for examination and discovery: 
— that the apparent mysteries of spi- 
ritualism and spiritual manifesta- 
tions are nothing more nor less than 
the mysteries of the human nervous 
system, about which we still are quite 
ignorant? 

Perhaps this little book may help 
to answer the question: "What is a 
miracle?" 

Bernard Stahl. 
36 Fifth Ave., Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 



Wise-Knut 

T N the seventeenth century a boy in 
Romsdal, Norway, went into the 
mountains after a load of hay. The 
grass which is cut from the enclosed 
Saterfield (outfarm) during the 
summer is usually stored up in a 
barn until midwinter when it can be 
easily carried home from the moun- 
tains on a sled. As the boy was 
loading the sleigh the Whole barn 
suddenly fell down — the horse run- 
ning away in one direction, the boy 
in another; and he never again came 
home to Romsdalen. 

But a few years after this adven- 
ture he was found to be married and 



ii 



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to have settled down on a deserted 
farm called Nordgaarden, Svastum 
county in Gausdal State. This farm 
was given to him probably together 
with the woman Who became his 
wife. 

This couple had a daughter who 
became engaged to a traveler, but 
when the brother of the traveler 
came to the house he fell so despe- 
rately in love with her that he took 
both the bride and the farm away 
from his brother. Their son, Jo- 
hans, was of a somewhat singular 
temperament and was known in his 
homestead as a man who could "see 
things." Johans married and had a 
son who was named Rasmus, and he 
in turn had married and had nine 

12 



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children, one of whom was Knut, 
"Wise-Knut" And under this name 
he is known not only over the whole 
of Norway but also over a large part 
of Sweden. 

Knut was not like other children. 
Far from it. He was often very 
sick, and suffered intensely from the 
falling-sickness (epilepsy) and for 
that reason was unable to take part 
in the hard farm work or in fact do 
anything at all. Nor could he be 
taught to read except by listening to 
the other children. But the teacher 
soon took a liking to this strange ail- 
ing boy, with big' sparkling and 
strongly squinted eyes, a defect, how- 
ever, which only gave an added im- 
pression of something strange and 
13 



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absent. It happened quite often 
that Knut suddenly fell down from 
the school-bench and lay for a long 
while entirely unaware of himself 
and his surroundings. Hiis school- 
mates saw something quite super- 
natural in him. 

The falling-sickness, however, be- 
came less pronounced as the boy 
grew up. He wias confirmed (only 
on what he understood and had 
learned by heart, as he could neither 
write nor read) and had already 
hired himself out for a day-laborer 
as his father had just died and the 
family was in great need. But he 
couldn't stand the hard work, the fits 
came back, and he had soon to return 
home. 

14 



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He was born and brought up in a 
poor mountain district and on one of 
its very poorest farms at that. His 
delicate health craved better nour- 
ishment but that he couldn't have. 
And so he stayed at home with his 
mother and soon made up his mind 
to learn to read and Write by his own 
effort. 

This undertaking was looked upon 
by the peasants as a form of divine 
worship, for all the "book-learning" 
they knew of was the knowledge of 
their Lord, His words and deeds; 
even the art of writing and reading 
was regarded by them as "a gift of 
grace." 

Knut's mother was a sincere Chris- 
tian and so was his teacher, and this 
15 



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influence, as well as the boy's delicate 
health, made him trust in God and 
lean upon Him as his only support. 
If wie add to this his early inclina- 
tion to dream and talk about the su- 
pernatural and the marvelous, we 
find it easy to understand what a 
great influence the Bible with its 
prophets and its miracles must have 
had over this sensitive boy and the 
convincing evidence and reality it 
lent to his visions and dreams. 

Poor lad! There he lay in his 
bed disabled and dreaming, op- 
pressed by poverty, shut in by moun- 
tains and ever yearning. What 
wonder that he began to transform 
his home and all the narrowness 
about him by making things appear 

16 



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big and beautiful in his imagination! 

The very first thing he would do, 
he promised himself, after leaving 
the bed would be to help his mother 
with the farm work and to work 
hard trying to make the farm larger 
and more profitable. Oh, the farm, 
he was sure, would become one of 
the finest in the county. And in fact 
as soon as he was able to walk about 
he began eagerly to clear away stones 
and trees in order to cultivate new 
land, and he also built a new barn in 
his unskillful way. 

His devotedness bound him for a 
while to his home and his work, but 
it could hardly be expected to last 
long. The very smallest chance (as 
soon as the wings were grown suf- 
17 



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ficiently) could drive him to flight 
into the world of mysticism and 
dreams. 

Although well informed as he was 
on religious matters he was once pre- 
vailed upon to try a superstitious 
remedy for his ailment. The rem- 
edy consisted of three drops of blood 
taken from three crippled persons, 
and this was to be eaten on a piece of 
bread. He should further take the 
heart out of a snake (in the spring 
before the call of the cuckoo), and 
this he should roast and eat. He 
also received an amulet to be worn 
about the neck. 

To do such things, he believed, 
was to come in contact with super- 
natural power and soon this thought 

18 



WISE-KNUT 



began to burn him and he had no 
more peace. 

"Hadn't the Lord forbidden all 
witchcraft?" 

"Who was Knut that he dared to 
put his trust in any other power than 
that of God?" 

"What would become of him who 
had forgotten his God ; yes, betrayed 
Him?" 

Every idle word and thought since 
his early childhood now came 
marching along placing its heavy 
weight on his racked heart. His 
feeble health could not long endure 
the strain of the severe fight within 
him and he was often tempted to end 
his miserable life, — a life already 
lost. Whenever he caught sight of 
19 



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a knife he was tempted to use it 
against himself. At last he decided 
to go to church (miles and miles 
away) kneel down at the communion 
table, partake of the Lord's supper, 
and receive forgiveness. 

There was as a rule no service held 
at the Svastum church during the 
winter, but notice had been sent out 
that there would be a service with 
communion six weeks after Christ- 
mas, and to this Knut wished to go. 
But three days before the service was 
to take place he became so violently 
ill that he had to keep in bed for 
weeks. 

^During this sickness he was a de- 
fenceless prey to perpetual intoxica- 
tions of the senses. After days of 

20 



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fainting spells he became at last 
calmer and then he could hear harps 
playing in the air (compare Ibsen's 
"The Masterbuilder" Hilde's re- 
peated talk about harps playing in 
the air) and the singing of hymns. 
Later he heard music played on vio- 
lins and clarinets, sweeping along 
the floor as though it came up from 
the earth itself, accompanied by a 
choir of heavenly voices. Finally 
the music rose up towards the skies — 
and faded into silence. 

Later on he was able to apprehend 
and understand a few words of the 
hymns. The form was very simple 
and the object was to tell him that 
he should throw away all witchcraft, 
and trust in the medicament of his 

21 



WXSE-KNUT 



God which was "the flesh and blood 
of our Lord." The hymn ended 
with these lines, 

"If sickness, dread and pain thou 

fear 
Then sin from heart and soul first 

tear! 9 

It is to be noted that all the hymns 
he then afid later "heard" were sung 
in the general written language of 
the country, while Knut himself to 
his death spoke the dialect of the 
parish only, a dialect which differed 
a good deal from the common lan- 
guage. 

Allow me — before I go farther in- 
to the life of this strange creature 
who in his time called forth so many 

22 



WISE-KNUT 



different opinions and so much scorn 
— to mention that I go by a book 
written in a language made up from 
the peasant's dialect, a sort of an- 
cient remains from the old Northern 
language. The author of this book 
was born of peasants but he was a 
man of classical education. His 
name was Johannes Skar and he was 
brought up so to speak on the strange 
stories related of Wise-Knut. He 
traveled over a good deal of the 
country in order to search for evi- 
dence and make personal investiga- 
tions, and it is safe to say that he 
never gave up or contented himself 
until he had found those who had 
been in personal contact with the 
famous seer. 

23 



WISE- KNUT 



Johannes Skar very often spoke 
with Knut himself. He lived here 
at Svastum in Gausdal — only a few 
miles from my own estate — and 
many of the stories here related IVe 
heard myself, some from the very 
first source and some more from the 
second or third, and from my very 
childhood indeed IVe been told 
stories similar to those related by Jo- 
hannes Skar without being able to 
enter into any investigations. But 
this has been done by Johannes Skar 
and of his ability, good intention, 
and love for truth there is not the 
slightest doubt. Nor is there any 
person living in Gausdal who denies 
that Knut was an honest man. 

Knut died in his 89th year, and re- 
24 



WISE-KNUT 



ceived until his last days all who 
came to him ; and one can freely say 
that he was known personally by 
every single soul throughout the 
whole State. 

It is also safe to say that from the 
very oldest, who had known him 
from childhood^ to the grown-up 
men of independence and authority, 
who, unlike the old ones, were not 
likely to be influenced by the strong 
impression of his first appearances 
among them or by the cry of indigna- 
tion his ill treatment aroused* there 
exists only one opinion as to his hon- 
esty and veracity. 

However, the tempest has quieted 
down and there is now silence in the 
judgment of this strange man though 
25 



WISE-KNUT 



not perhaps in arguing about the 
reason why he 1 more than others, 
should have been able to see, hear 
and do such marvelous things. I 
ought perhaps to add that the office- 
bearers, the clergy, the judges and 
others who met him during the last 
yeras of his life wiere as perfectly 
convinced of his honesty as all the 
rest. By so saying, however, I don't 
wish it to be understood that he was 
never the victim of self-delusion, a 
fact anyone can easily find out for 
himself. 

But there is much that is abso- 
lutely free from any sort of self-de- 
lusion, much that is mixed up with 
it — but at any rate just as wonderful, 
just as unaccountable. 
26 



WISE-KNUT 



Unaccountable? — Yes, there exist 
of course many different explana- 
tions, and I also have mine at hand, 
but will keep them back as my only 
wish is to display absolutely trust- 
worthy material for those who wish 
to enter upon a research that so far 
has been decidedly incomplete. 

So now we are ready to go back 
to Knut. 

From the moment he made up his 
mind to throw the amulet away the 
falling-sickness departed from him 
and he felt strong and well for a long 
time. Later he was often reminded 
of this painful time by certain indis- 
tinct music, (war-music, as he called 
it) delicate in its instrumental com- 
position but always ending in hymns 
*7 



WISE-KNUT 



— formal, tiresome warnings ex- 
pressed in dry defective book-lan- 
guage. This music usually com- 
menced when he was in great want, 
and ended when he had done what 
the singing commanded — cried out 
his want to God. "He clinched his 
teeth together and listened as long as 
he could hear the song," he said, 
"because he wasn't to allow his own 
thoughts to disturb him so long as 
the song lasted." 

People thought he suffered from 
thick blood and suggested bleeding 
as an unfailing remedy for such an 
ailment. He was willing to "bleed" 
but on the way to the doctor the sing- 
ing began and the song told him not 
28 



WISE-KNUT 



to go, and so he was compelled to re- 
turn. 

"And the singing continued until 
a scale fell from my eyes and I knew 
instantly that it was my sin, not my 
blood, that created all the disturb- 
ances within and that prayer and 
prayer alone could save me." 

Later in the spring he was able to 
leave his bed and enjoy the bright 
morning-sun from the little stoop of 
his hut. The gruesome fight within 
was not at an end but it had been 
somewhat subdued and he felt more 
at peace. 

There he could sit receiving or- 
ders — as it seemed to him — to pick 
up a hymn-book, find out the hymn 
and take part in the singing verse 
29 



WISE-KNUT 



by verse while the invisible choir 
were singing most heavenly above 
him. It was especially the fine 
strong hymns which were sung to 
him while he in his book followed 
up every word with his finger. 

When well again "he was told" to 
go and wake up his brethren from 
sin. He was much embarrassed by 
this command as he feared their talk 
and ridicule about his "thick blood." 
But he was told to endure their treat- 
ment until he should have been to 
the Lord's table. From then on it 
should be better with him. 

And now something new came to 
him. It happened that he could sit 
in his hut and "hear" what was just 
talked about far away, yes, even in 

30 



WISE-KNUT 



foreign countries, and when the ru- 
mour or the mail at length reached 
the parish the report he had given 
of the news was found to be correct 
in every detail. And it happened 
when a person had lost himself in the 
mountains that he told the exact spot 
where that person strayed and he also 
repeatedly told where lost cattle 
were to be found. 

On a farm where no drinkable 
water was to be had, he told where 
to dig for it, and water in abundance 
was immediately found. And each 
and every one of these things oc- 
cured again and again. 

I shall a little later return more 
authoritatively to this matter which 
I've mentioned here only in passing. 
31 



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One can easily understand the tre- 
mendous impression of all this on the 
neighboring peasants. And when 
the reports, often exaggerated, flew 
over the mountains, people came 
singly or in companies from every 
corner of the country to see him and 
consult him. God had raised a 
prophet among them! 

The attack on Christianity during 
the last century had made an im- 
pression on the cultivated classes in 
Norway and their doubts by and by 
had reached downward to the com- 
mon people. The parson of the par- 
ish' a man who eagerly sought to 
raise and enlighten his flock, had 
published a book that he advised all 
young people to use instead of 
32 



WISE-KNUT 



Luther's catechism, and in this he 
taught morality instead of faith. In 
general the peasantry had begun to 
look on Christianity with a certain 
coolness, except those, of course, 
who were stirred up by the call of 
repentance of the famous peasant- 
preacher Hans Nielson Hauge. 
However, in spite of all teaching, 
preaching and stirring up, the old 
faith soon showed itself to have the 
stronger grasp on the people. The 
old Christian faith was always burn- 
ing beneath it all and might flare up 
at any moment. 

When it became known that Knut 
would attend church the seventh of 
June (that day another service with 
communion was to be held at Svas- 

33 



WISE-KNUT 



turn church) and that Knut that day' 
from what had been told would drop 
to the church floor and remain there 
for two hours, people streamed to the 
church afar. 

Svastum is a long monotonous dale 
whose mountain-ridges on both sides 
are not especially high, but give an 
impression of gloomy heaviness 
nevertheless, because of the narrow- 
ness of the dale. The farms check- 
ered with fields seem to hang upon 
the mountain-sides and only now and 
then an opening is found for a level 
lawn. On such a lawn stands Svas- 
tum church, a little low wooden 
chapel. The river, white-green and 
ill-tempered, hastily passes by. A 

34 



WISE-KNUT 



few cultivated patches, wrung from 
the woods, light up the slopes. 

The inhabitants of this dale do not 
possess the usual liveliness of moun- 
tain-people' but are — like the people 
of the Gudbrandsdale — as a whole, 
quiet and gloomy. They have no 
national songs, nor special poetry. 
The people living at Svastum have 
as a rule long bony faces, dark hair 
and blue eyes with a serious and 
searching look. Their manners are 
cautious or, better still, indicate self- 
command. And this peculiarity, it 
shall be said to the honor of Gud- 
brandsdale, is far more prominent in 
this State than in any other State or 
parish of Norway. That's why they 
conduct themselves so well — the men 

35 



WISE-KNUT 



often with striking dignity and the 
women with charming modesty. 
But gloomy they are for their life is 
depressing, shut in as they are like 
the surrounding valley itself. 

This day, however, it was other- 
wise. Excitement had entered into 
this formal mass. A bomb had sud- 
denly been thrown into their midst; 
they were to-day to meet with the 
"miracle-boy," the new messenger, 
the new prophet sent down from 
God into their own district. Many 
were those who walked miles to meet 
him on his way, others waited at the 
church for his arrival, scattered in 
clusters everywhere about the lawn 
over which brooded the mountains. 

The men folks w;ore breeches and 
36 



WISE-KNUT 



high boots. Their coats had broad 
coat-laps and green cuffs somewhat 
like the uniforms worn a hundred 
years earlier by the Eugenes and 
Marlborough's soldiers and also by 
their forefathers who had fought as 
Danish-Norwegian auxiliaries. 

The womenfolks were dressed in 
black, tight-fitting gowns and had 
large white skauts (caps) on 
their heads which overhung their 
faces and almost hid them. From a 
distance it looked as though white 
birds were sitting in clusters around 
the lawn — because the sexes kept 
apart at the services just^as they do 
to-day. 

And there Knut came with a great 
following. He was at this time 

37 



WISE-KNUT 



about twenty-one years old, large- 
limbed and tall, but weak about the 
joints. 

He came rapidly and somewhat 
haltingly with the whole flock at his 
heels. He was bare-headed, be- 
cause as he said, "it had been 
whispered into his ear" that he 
should take his cap off, and from that 
momenfhe never put it on again as 
he went into fits and cramps if he 
did so. He had unusually long hair, 
raven-black and coarse, standing in 
a regular curve up over his broad 
forehead and hanging down the 
shoulders like flapping wings. His 
visage was big and extremely ex- 
pressive, the mouth half open, the 
nose long and straight brows strong 
38 



WISE-KNUT 



and heavy and eyes with unusually 
large and sparkling pupils. The 
eyes themselves saw crookedly and 
this added something indescribable 
to his look. The cast reminded the 
on-looker of that secret voice which 
mastered his will and powers. 

His whole appearance and the 
procession in which he came created 
both surprise and respect. 

The doors and windows were all 
open and the clergyman stood in the 
sacristy awaiting anxiously the mo- 
ment that the great mass of people 
would quiet down so that he could 
commence the service. 

Knut made directly for the 
sacristy, greeted the parson and 
seating himself on the parson's 

39 



WISE-KNUT 



bench he said, "I'm the per- 
son the whole world makes fun of 
because I'm compelled to tell things 
which are whispered into my ear." 

The clergyman thought the man 
crazy and treated him accordingly 
with calmness and patience. 

Knut sang "with bad execution" 
(says the clergyman in his report) 
"a whole lot of those hymns he had 
heard in the air." 

Those hymns still exist. 

They teach conversion in the way 
and spirit of the Old Testament, ex- 
cept that they threaten no infernal 
torment. 

"If the people won't listen to the 
command of God," was the threat, 
"pestilence and bloody war will 
40 



WISE-KNUT 



come." (It is to be noted that this 
took place only four years after a 
long-lasting war and a following 
famine.) But the threat was only 
incidental. Even the very first 
hymn was more alluring than threat- 
ening, describing as it did all the 
wonderful things the soul would re- 
ceive from the hand of God, and the 
severe inducement to aim for those 
things only was very forcibly ex- 
pressed in all the hymns. And so 
hymn after hymn was sung while the 
immense gathering pressed forward 
against the entrance of the church 
in the hope of catching a glimpse of 
him. And it was such a beautiful 
day in June, and such peace all 
about, such blessed stillness! The 
41 



WISE-KNUT 



parson could do nothing, not even 
move. In Knut's second hymn were 
mentioned the vices and all the dif- 
ferent abuses committed in the par- 
ish, also those of the church; but the 
form was always mild. The third 
complained of the abolishing of 
some of the catholic holidays. The 
Lord wasn't worshipped enough. 

At last the service was commenced, 
and the people again rushed forward, 
but the church was already packed. 
Scores of people were standing in 
throngs in the doorway and in front 
of the open windows. 

Soon it was reported that Knut 

was trembling violently because a 

new and worthless hymn-book had 

been used. The singing ceased, and 

42 



WISE-KNUT 



the congregation were simply com- 
pelled to sing from the old book. 
(It was clear that this silent com- 
mand had made deep impression, for 
the old hymn-book was dearly 
loved). In the mean-while Knut 
had become so fatigued that two of 
his brothers had to lead him forward 
to receive his remission of sins. He 
was fully unaware of himself when 
he was again returned to his seat. 
The whole congregation was strong- 
ly affected by this sight, and the serv- 
ice had once more to be stopped. 
When the minister at last ordered 
him to be taken out of the church, 
Knut most touchingly besought the 
people to allow him to lie there in 
the temple of God. But at last he 

43 



WISE-KNUT 



had to be carried out of the church 
and laid on the lawn. Then he was 
attacked by a cramp so terribly se- 
vere that he was repeatedly thrown 
sprawling up in the air while be- 
tween the attacks, in the most appeal- 
ing way, he besought the people not 
to touch him. And they began to 
sing and pray with him. There 
were women who turned away weep- 
ing; his suffering and goodness af- 
fected them too much. At length 
the minister came out of the church 
and took part in the singing and 
afterward he tried to explain the 
situation and to talk the people into 
peace and calmness. He told them 
the best he could that Knut was in 
the same condition that they were 

44 



WISE-KNUT 



themselves when they were dream- 
ing. 

Knut remained at a farm near the 
church till the following Tuesday 
when he "received a messsage" to 
take the sexton, his old teacher, along 
with him to the church, to open the 
door and ring the bells for him. He 
further received a message to go the 
direct way facing the church all the 
while — crossing fences, rocks, 
heaped up stones, ditches and I don't 
know what. A woman who saw 
him pass by said, "I noticed a streak 
of light above him and along the 
road he followed." 

In the church he remained for 
hours and when he at last was 
brought out he began to sing on an 

45 



WISE-KNUT 



endless "receipt" that he had 
"heard" while in church, and which 
on "command received" was written 
up and sent to the Parliament at 
Christiania. It w<as all in all a sober 
memorandum or note of school, 
church and other textbooks he 
deemed necessary, besides some 
urgent warnings advocating a better 
and cleaner mode of living, together 
with a request to appoint more holi- 
days. If these requests were not 
complied with "pestilence and 
bloody war would come." 

From that day his life was divided 
between two things. First the 
proclaiming of the Word accom- 
panied by all the personal devotion 
he could render, all the kindness he 
46 



WISE-KNUT 



was able to do, all the sacrifices he 
could make. On the other hand, the 
bitter persecution of him for this by 
the office-holders of the country, 
especially the clergy. 

It was at that time prohibited by 
the law of the country to advance 
any other meanings out of the Word 
of God than those which were 
accepted and authorized by the theo- 
logical faculty at Christiana. They 
had just succeeded in putting another 
dreamer (Hans Nielsen Hauge) and 
some of his most ardent disciples in 
jail, (where many of them had to 
remain for years) and were deter- 
mined to be on their guard against 
any new prophet. 

But in spite of all this, "Knut 

47 



WISE-KNUT 



received his message" to go out to a 
far-away district and preach to the 
people and gladly and fearlessly he 
obeyed. However, he was quickly 
seized upon by the maintainers of the 
law, and by order of the sheriff was 
to be transported back to his home- 
stead. But Knut got cramps and 
became lame so the transporting had 
to be postponed. Some time later he 
was seized upon again, and again he 
became ill and this time so severely 
that by the least touch of his captors 
he was thrown up in the air and 
again tossed down at the feet of his 
pursuers as though he was handled 
by some strong invisible power. 
However, they were strong in num- 
bers now and he was seized by force 
48 



WISE-KNUT 



and carried away step by step. Al- 
though he suffered fearful pains 
from the touch of their hands, they 
wouldn't let go, and so he was car- 
ried off moaning and entreating, fol- 
lowed by a great crowd of men and 
women. 

Among those who followed was a 
giant of a fellow, Imort Nerlid by 
name, who during the reviews had 
shown himself to be the strongest 
man of his State to say the least. 
This giant, who loved Knut with the 
devotedness of a child, begged to be 
allowed to set Knut free. But the 
humble law-abiding Knut wouldn't 
allow this. 

As they went on, it became worse 
and worse with him, and his pursu- 

49 



WISE-KNUT 



ers, frightened at last by the uncanny 
sight, sent for a horse and sleigh. 
Barely placed on it he fell again into 
a trance and (such is the unanimous 
testimony of all the many people 
who were present) was hurled out 
of the sleigh and thrown with weird 
force far away from the road, and 
this repeated itself over and over 
again. 

Once he was thrown headlong into 
a river while he was driven along- 
side it. They had at last to leave 
him alone, and in spite of his extreme 
fatigue he addressed the same eve- 
ning a great gathering of people 
who had streamed together from 
everywhere to hear him. The same 
night he sang among other things a 
50 



WISE-KNUT 



most beautiful hymn, and he cer- 
tainly must have made a profound 
impression, for one who was present 
learned the song by heart only by 
hearing Knut sing it. 

This man could recite it half a 
hundred years after to that one who 
has gathered together these few 
pages from Knut's life. 

The military force had in the 
meantime been notified, and seven 
soldiers under command of a captain 
and two lieutenants of the army 
(they thought this great fun I be- 
lieve) marched to the place where 
Knut gave his lecture. As Knut was 
found to be still in the midst of his 
talk a man was put on look-out to 
report to the "military force" who 
si 



WISE-KNUT 



in the meantime spent the time in 
dancing and card-playing at a neigh- 
bouring house. These amusements 
attracted them so strongly, however, 
that they forgot all about Knut until 
midnight. Then they forced their 
entrance into Knut's room, a room so 
narrow and low that the guns 
scratched the ceiling. 

Knut begged them to leave him 
alone. The giant, his devoted 
friend, who also had crawled in- 
to the room to be in Knut's pres- 
ence, thought the best way to fix mat- 
ters up would be to throw the whole 
"military force" headlong out of the 
house, but Knut succeeded, though 
with difficulty, in calming him and 
the other good people present, who 
52 



WTSE-KNUT 



were only too willing to lend the 
giant a hand if need should be. 

As soon as the soldiers put their 
hands on him he began to tremble, 
but he was carried down and forci- 
bly bound to the sleigh with strong 
ropes. He soon fell into his spasms. 
The ropes broke like silk thread 
and he was thrown violently off the 
sleigh in the same way as formerly 
related. They roped him again, but 
again he was thrown off most vio- 
lently. A strong, powerful man 
then forced him down in the sleigh 
while the others roped him. 
"Then," it is told, "Knut's moans 
were unspeakably heart-rending." 

This ill-treatment was continued 
for miles and miles, and whenever he 

S3 



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was handed over to a fresh set of 
men, he sang his farewell to those 
who left, praised God and prayed 
for their souls. 

But no sooner was he — in this ter- 
rible way — brought to his own 
homestead than the giant, Imort 
Nerlid and another big fellow came 
to him sent, out from the people at 
large, to induce him to return to 
Fron State immediately. The whole 
people, so to speak, wiould stand up 
for him in one strong body and 
watch and guard him. 

Poor Knut! He was greatly 
frightened at the mere thought of 
taking the long journey and of the 
task ahead of him, but he was "com- 

54 



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manded to follow them" and so he 
went gladly. 

The Sunday after his arrival was 
"a service Sunday" and guarded by a 
great mass of people he went to 
church. 

The minister and those who had 
ill-treated Knut were looked upon 
and judged very harshly by the peo- 
ple and were therefore much fright- 
ened. The man, who in such a brutal 
way had forced Knut down into 
the sleigh while he was roped, was 
also at the church and so roughly 
was he handled by the giant that only 
a lucky circumstance saved him 
from being killed. The manner of 
the people was such indeed that it 
was decided to leave Knut alone, 

55 



WISE-KNUT 



The inhabitants of Fron Sate were 
eager to keep Knut in their midst 
forever, and for that reason the 
giant, Imort Nerlid, almost com- 
pelled Knut to purchase the half of 
his farm at Fron — at a dead bargain, 
of course. Later when Imort 
moved away Knut sold his part of 
the farm for a very high price which 
was invested in an annual allowance 
for life. 

He always had been longing for 
the place where he had suffered and 
played as a child and now it seemed 
as though his wish wlould be ful- 
filled, but alas! he was accused of 
giving medical advice although it 
was authoritatively stated without a 
single doubt that he never in his 
56 



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whole life had accepted so much as 
one single penny for his aid nor had 
his aid hurt anybody — quite the con- 
trary. Moreover, he was at the 
same time accused of unlawful relig- 
ious teaching. (This also was 
found false.) He was nevertheless 
sentenced to pay big fines and heavy 
costs, and in order to be able to com- 
ply with this heart-rending unjust 
demand he had to give up his annual 
allowance for many years. But he 
never complained. 

He went home to Svastum, where 
he was born, and lived there in a lit- 
tle cabin alone on the poorest food. 

After his homecoming he was at 
first seen much abroad — later less 
frequently. He made his living by 

57 



WISE-KNUT 



day-labouring until the day came at 
last when he could receive the bene- 
fit of his allowance. However, he 
was always cheerful and had unfail- 
ing consolation for those who sought 
him. 

It is not my object, however, to 
describe much moreof Knut's exterior 
life, but if it could be determined 
exactly how many he was able to 
help in his long life, bodily as well 
as mentally — the number would be 
surprisingly large. And could it be 
told how many he had taken fatherly 
by the hand and led from a thought- 
less life into one of uprightness and 
sincerity that number would indeed 
reach an amazingly high figure. 
Or if one could count all the death 
58 



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beds by which he mildly sat and 
offered consolation! Truly he was 
a blessing not only to people within 
his reach but to many a sick and un- 
happy man and woman living far 
away in other lands. 

He was pursued not only by the 
office holders of the country but also 
for a long time by the so-called 
"Holies," those who had been relig- 
iously aroused by Hans Nielsen 
Hauge and his ardent desciples. 
We have in our possession a letter 
from Hauge addressed to Knut 
which appears to be a gross injustice 
from the first line to the very last. 
The clergy never went so far as to 
accuse Knut of shameless fraud and 
recklessness but such were the tactics 

59 



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of Hauge and his followers and they 
succeeded actually at last in bring- 
ing Knut — if not precisely into ill- 
fame — then at last in causing him to 
be misunderstood. Knut didn't go 
much about during that period, so 
they had rather an easy task of it. 
He, however, never complained or 
defended .himself. He was really 
too good, too mild — in short — en- 
tirely too big-hearted to complain 
about anyone or anything. And I 
dare say that it was just this beautiful 
and wonderful mildness that made 
them hate him. Knut was besides 
more of a scald than any of them, 
hence his keen understanding of hu- 
man nature and human ways, and his 
60 



WISE-KNUT 



cheerful, childlike disposition and 
liveliness. 

The supernatural power — which 
so many attributed to him — was 
looked upon as a profanation by the 
"Holy ones" and his teaching as 
heterodoxy. When he taught that 
"what God wishes to be done He is 
able to do without any help from 
outsiders," and "that it was of no 
use to stand against His command," 
and further "that the people had no 
will of their own," etc., he Was 
looked upon by those "holies" as a 
heretic. Knut, however, was as in- 
nocent as a child and never thought 
of supplanting their faith or creating 
any new religious party of his own 
61 



WXSE-KNUT 



or establishing any other kind of fol- 
lowing whatsoever. 

The office-holders pursued him, 
the "Holy" scorned him, and those 
who had no faith at all scorned him 
still more. But a soft word, a beau- 
tiful song, a little sunshine, a rare 
formation of the skies or a new tone 
in the landscape, the chirping of 
birds, the voices of children, the 
whistling of the merry toiler — and 
he was again just as mild, just as 
cheerful. A rare depth of under- 
standing supplied his life with re- 
flections that gave him the spirit of 
inquiry and the love of nature. 

His gift as orator was the gift of 
the improvisor or rather the gift of 
the spiritual talker. Even to men- 
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tion such a thing as preparation 
would have been quite out of the 
question. The only preparation, 
if we may call it so, was the influence 
that was created by the auditors 
themselves, their willingness to hear, 
their eagerness to see him. If they 
came loaded with suspicions and ill- 
feeling against him — and such was 
often the case, then he became 
frightened and even fell into such 
violent trembling that he couldn't 
utter a single word. At one meet- 
ing, for instance, he commenced by 
saying, "The Godless," this he re- 
peated several times, the rest dying 
away from his lips. People climbed 
chairs and benches to look at him 
"because w T hen the trembling seized 
63 



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him," it was told, "he was still 
more frightful to look at." The 
benches and chairs they had climbed 
upon broke down and laughter and 
flippant remarks reached his ears. 
He felt it "as a punishment of God" 
to stand there among them. He 
could not proceed and they had to 
leave him. 

But ft wasn't always so. Once, for 
instance, it happened that he "felt" 
that somebody in the big audience 
was scorning him and swearing. He 
stopped short at once, pointed out 
the guilty parties and ordered the 
offenders to leave the hall imme- 
diately. The offenders were thun- 
derstruck. They were quite cer- 
tain that not even the nearest 
64 




WISE-KNUT 

AS OLD MAN 



WISE-KNUT 



bystanders, not to mention Knut, 
could possibly have heard their in- 
decent remarks, and this made a great 
impression upon them. At this meet- 
ing, it was reported, Knut was grant- 
ed oratorical and vocal power as sel- 
dom before or since in his whole life. 

In his every-day speech and plain 
conversation he was extremely fas- 
cinating, both imaginative and pro- 
found and always lovable. 

The impression he made, especial- 
ly at his first appearance as a youth 
of twenty-one, must have been great 
indeed. This is clearly shown dur- 
ing the severe persecution by the 
faithfulness of his friends as well as 
by the following great uprising; still 
65 



WISE-KNUT 



further by each individual self- 
sacrifice. 

But others — those who didn't en- 
tertain any kind of friendly feelings 
towards him — were enraptured to 
such a degree that they saw visions 
and told of lightning in the air above 
him as he went about. 

During one of his meetings when 
he sat by the window reading from 
the Bible in the twilight, "a rainbow 
reaching from one shoulder to the 
other" was plainly noticed by the 
gathering. And it is further related 
"that angels whispered to him," and 
those angels were often visible to the 
people. Others told of "two white 
birds sitting on his right shoulder." 

He once held a meeting at Tratte- 

66 



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parsonage. Many people came to- 
gether from afar and after the meet- 
ing some of them slept in the room 
with Knut. During the night they 
were awakened by hearing him talk 
in sleep, giving a continuation of his 
speech of the preceding evening. 
At last he awoke and noticed in the 
light summer night the other guests 
sitting fully awake and upright in 
their beds and listening. His pillow 
was wet with tears. One can easily 
understand that such a deep emo- 
tional nature, such a vivid imagina- 
tion as his, must necessarily move 
them. And one cannot easily over- 
look what a great effect his personal 
appearance must have added to all 
this. Think of his big, marked, ex- 
67 



WISE-KNUT 



pressive face, his shining eyes and his 
tremendous raven-black hair floating 
about his shoulders like a royal man- 
tle. 

However, all this and more 
wouldn't have been sufficient to cre- 
ate much enthusiasm, if the people 
hadn't been absolutely convinced 
that this strange creature could heal 
people by the mere imposition of 
hands and furthermore could posi- 
tively tell where lost things mere to 
be found and still further could tell 
what people living far away were 
doing or talking about. 

And here we shall turn a new 
page, looking only into that for the 
sake of which I have taken up the 

68 



WISE-KNUT 



treatment of the subject of "Wise- 
Knut." 

Let it be remembered that what 
here is produced is undisputed. 

He believed that his strange abili- 
ties were given him as a gift from 
God, that God in every case "used 
him" as his tool. He said, "The 
prophets have had it like myself." 
When he couldn't touch gold, silver 
or copper without having spasms he 
explained it as a dispensation of God. 

I'll copy here what a man as a 
witness for the court of Law deposed 
as to the effect the mere touch of 
copper had on Knut. 

"I placed," said the man, "two 
copper-coins on his palm and im- 
mediately a spasm in his arm was 
69 



WISE-KNUT 



noticeable. Knut writhed and made 
faces from pain, insisting that a 
sinew in his arm had sprung. And 
actually when I investigated I found 
the sinew to be quite hard, and in the 
palm a bump was to be seen. As 
soon as the coins were removed, and 
Knut had rubbed the hand, the arm 
was in its natural state again." 

Once it happened that Knut as he 
entered a farmhouse, Stamme by 
name, found Jens, the farmer, in 
eager search for a lost silver coin. 

"Good boy!" the farmer ex- 
claimed as he saw Knut enter, "Here 
is some work for you to do." 

"Very well, sir," answered Knut, 
smilingly, "but then I must have 
another silver piece to search with." 
70 



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He got another piece which he 
placed between his two fingers. Im- 
mediately the arm began to tremble 
violently and he was pulled toward a 
corner in the room, there the fingers 
were drawn down to a crack in the 
floor where the coin was found. 

Niels Huseby, a well known 
farmer from Hedemarkens county, 
was to have a well on his farm and 
had brought Knut to show them 
where to dig it. 

On their way they rested them- 
selves at a place called Jevanorsbak- 
ken at Furna's valley. The place' 
was reached in the middle of the 
night so the people were all fast 
asleep, but they hurriedly left their 
warm beds and made a fire on the 
71 



WISE-KNUT 



hearth. They had no , candles at 
hand, however, and left it to the 
brisk fire to light up the room. It 
was a cold night, so Niels took his 
flask out of his pocket and offered 
Knut a dram. The darkness of the 
room prevented Knut's noticing that 
the brandy was offered him in a sil- 
ver-cup. • And thus runs Niel's own 
account of this incident. 

"Knut began to cry out as though 
he had burned himself and asked me 
for heaven's sake to help him. 
And," says Niels further in his nar- 
rative, "the silver-cup had literally 
grown fast to Knut's face, and I had 
to use such force in delivering him 
that I actually feared that his whole 

72 



WISE-KNUT 



mouth would come out with the 
cup." 

As Knut once walked over a field 
at Steine, Gausdal county, he sud- 
denly stood stock still and cried out, 
"There is something both red and 
white underneath here!" The men 
dug and on the very spot a lump of 
silver was discovered. As the head- 
chemist at the university of Chris- 
tiana was examining the discovery, 
he said, "If it hadn't been for the 
reliability of the man who told it, I 
should have called it a fraud." 

Neither could he stand to be 
handled by anybody, as the slightest 
touch caused him pain. However, 
he could bear the touch of a friendly 

73 



WISE-KNUT 



handshake. Nor could he wear any 
head-covering. 

At the court of law once the judge 
put a hat on Knut's head and com- 
cnanded him to keep it on. A mo- 
ment later Knut fell to the floor in a 
dreadful fit, and the judge was much 
frightened. 

It sometimes happened that if 
Knut had made up his mind to fol- 
low a certain road in a certain di- 
rection that his right foot suddenly 
refused to go any farther, simply 
compelling Knut to turn in the di- 
rection the foot wished him to go. 

I put down all this exactly as he 
felt it and saw it and as the people 
understood it, and related it, keeping 
my own opinion in reserve. 

74 



WISE-KNUT 



/. What Knut did in his search for 
water. 

He went to a place where it was 
most likely that water was to be 
found and there he began his search 
by placing the back of his hand on 
the ground, mowing it slowly until 
it began to pull on his fingers and 
there, underneath, was the water. 

(It was for a long while Knut's 
way of earning a livelihood to find 
water and dig wells for people. 
There are scores of farms in the 
eastern counties which in this way 
have obtained better drinking-water 
than they ever had before, or ob- 
tained it from nearer and more con- 
venient places, or owe it entirely to 

75 



WISE-KNUT 



Knut that they have any water on 
their farms at all. Before his day 
they had to fetch it from afar.) 

He tells himself that he also 
learned to find water by carrying a 
twig firmly in his hand. When the 
twig approached a water-vein it 
would bend up to his chest. It had 
to be a birch-twig or better still the 
twig of a wild-cherry tree. 

I'm fully aware that there are 
other people who are able to find 
water in the same way. 

2. How Knut cured sickness and 
healed by imposition. 

When his hand touched the dis- 
eased place it literally grew fast to 
76 



WISE-KNUT 



the spot so to speak, and by the help 
of the other hand only he was able 
to rub it abou^ and in this way he 
worked over the diseased body, 
"grinding his teeth and foaming at 
the mouth;" he seemed to suffer in- 
tense pain. 

In spite of all this agony he never 
refused his help and he never 
accepted payment. 

There exists much evidence that 
he also gave medicine to his patients 
or sent them directly to a physician, 
or told them frankly that he couldn't 
help them. He showed in these 
cases the same sympathy, since he 
lived entirely for others. 

Anders Rolliden narrates the fol- 
lowing occurrence : 

77 



WISE-KNUT 



"One day Knut and I were stand- 
ing on the lawn cutting branches off 
some trees when a woman came 
along with two boys. One of the 
boys had sore eyes. Knut placed 
his hand on the boys eyes, and the 
eyes were healed while we stood 
looking on. I noticed that his hand 
vibrated in a strange way while it 
lay on the boy's eyes." 

Knut in his old age related him- 
self the following occurrence to 
Johannes Skar: 

"At Vedum farm was a girl who 
had ugly blains on her eyes that I 
was fortunate enough to heal at once 
only by touching them with my fin- 
ger-tips. 'Oh, dear, oh dear!' ex- 
claimed the girl, 'I can see the bright 
78 



WISE-KNUT 



daylight!' I couldn't help weeping 
for seeing her joy," said Knut joy- 
fully. 

It is positively attested that by im- 
position of hands he healed people 
of palsy and rheumatism, but how 
many other different diseases he was 
able to cure in this way it is hard to 
tell. It is safe to say that as a rule, 
he must have been extremely success- 
ful in his cures, since one meets peo- 
ple from many different places who 
owe theiV health to him. People 
came to him in scores from Holsten 
in the South and from Russia in the 
East and he was able to tell at a 
glance whether he could cure them 
or not. 

But even if it was an ailment he 

79 



WISE-KNUT 



could cure at once by imposition of 
hands he would do it on one condi- 
tion only : 

On their blind faith and trust in, 
God \ and their belief that it was God 
that helped them, through him. 
There could be no compromise on 
this point and there was no possibil- 
ity of deceiving him. He knew in- 
stantly when a person didnt believe 
in God — and withdrew. 

Here is one of the many stories 
still in existence put down directly 
from its relation by the person con- 
cerned. This story leads us at the 
same time into the field in which 
Knut created his greatest sensation. 

"A little girl from Christiana be- 
came lame and was severely attacked 
80 



WISE-KNUT 



by rheumatism in one of her arms. 
For more than ten years this little 
girl had dragged herself along with 
the help of two crutches and no phy- 
sician could relieve her. When the 
news of Knut's sojourn at Helgoen 
Mjosen was brought to the girl's 
family, they immediately sent a mes- 
sage to the farmer at Helgoen to 
keep Knut and that the girl should 
be sent off at once. She was at that 
time about sixteen years old and was 
accompanied by an older sister. The 
invalid arrived and had to be en- 
tirely undressed, yes, even the hair- 
pins in her hair, the rings on her fin- 
gers and the drops in her ears were 
removed. When during the gliding 
process with his hand, he touched the 
81 



WISE-KNUT 



diseased spot he gave out a terrible 
cry. After an hour's work he told 
the girl to rise and stand up, and she 
did so without any support at all. 
She had not done so since she was 
five years old. He told her, how- 
ever, to use the crutches for another 
year, but she disobeyed and threw 
them away on her way homeward 
two days after she had left Knut. 
This rashness on her part had no 
other ill effect than that one of her 
feet always was more delicate than 
the other, a defect hardly worth 
mentioning. 



82 



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$. At last we have reached that 

for which Knut was best known 

and for which he was 

most scorned. 

Let us commence this section by 
continuing the story told above. 
The older sister wished to give Knut 
something, although she was well 
aware of the fact that Knut never re- 
ceived payment. She had therefore 
secretly brought with her from 
Christiana some coffee, sugar, a 
plaid, material for a waistcoat and a 
few other things she thought a lonely 
simple peasant would appreciate. 
All these things she wrapped care- 
fully up in a bundle and (this was 
the most profound secret of it all) 
83 



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securely hidden in the middle of the 
bundle she had placed a sum of 
money about equal to five dollars. 
The cure was so entirely successful 
that she thought her present would 
be too small without this addition. 
Knut smiled when she offered him 
the bundle. 

"Oh — no, no!" he said without 
touching the bundle, "take three of 
the five dollars back but if you will 
lend me the two for my travels until 
I reach home I shall be thankful to 
you." 

(He later sent the girl a present in 
compensation for the loan.) 

The girl's astonishment can be 
more easily imagined than described. 
When she spoke to Knut about a 
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sickness her mother suffered from, 
he told her that there was nothing 
to be done for it. 

"But she suffers great pain in one 
of her feet," he added. 

"Oh, no, no indeed!" exclaimed 
the girl. 

"Yes, she does," insisted the seer, 
"she suffers much pain in one of her 
big toes." Then he went out into a 
field and returned with three striped 
straws which he asked her to take 
home to her mother. She was to 
bind the straws about the bad toe, 
one straw each week. It was eighty- 
four English miles from Helgoen to 
Christiania and there was no rail- 
road or telegraph. When the girls 
at length reached home and the older 
8s 



WISE-KNUT 



daughter would have thrown herself 
into her mother's arms she was 
warned off. Her mother was an in- 
valid. The girl stood spellbound, 
speechless from sorrow and amaze- 
ment. 

Knut had told the truth. Her 
mother suffered intense pain from 
an evil, disease that had commenced 
in one of her big toes but had ad- 
vanced rapidly so that now a black 
streak was to be seen extending from 
the toe to the knee. The straws, 
however, cured her in less than three 
weeks. (Imparted by the younger 
sister.) 

One day Knut was sent for by a 
woman who suffered from a most 
dangerous illness. She gave the 

86 



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messenger (a servant girl) some 
wool to take as a present to Knut. 
But on the way the idea took hold of 
the girl that there was altogether too 
much wool in that bundle and that 
she very well could hide some of it 
in the wood for her own benefit. 

Knut was very merry when the 
girl entered with her bundle. Her 
mistress, however, couldn't be 
helped, and he told her to carry the 
bundle back again, "but," he added, 
"be sure not to forget to replace what 
you have taken out and hidden away 
underneath a birchroot in the 
woods." The girl was evidently 
"cured." 

Once a cottager at Biri, six Nor- 
wegian miles from Knut's place 



WISE-KNUT 



(forty-two English miles), suddenly 
vanished from the valley. His 
wife, who was the last one who had 
spoken to him (they had as usual 
been quarreling) became frightened 
and sixty men began a search for 
him. All in vain! One of the 
party, a former school teacher but 
now a. wealthy farmer, sent a man 
to Knut to ask his advice in the mat- 
ter. Out of all the men present he 
selected one of his cottagers, Ole 
Tollessen, as the right messenger to 
send to Knut, "because," he ex- 
plained, "Ole is sure to tell the truth 
when he comes back." 

Knut didn't question Ole about the 
locality, scenery or any other matter. 
Ole, however, told the seer that the 



WISE-KNUT 



last person who had seen and talked 
with the lost cottager was his wife. 

"Yes," answered Knut, with a 
roguish smile, "and they didn't part 
on too friendly terms either." 

"Is the man alive?" asked Ole, 
"and has he, as so many think, run 
away from his wife?" 

"He has comitted suicide," was 
Knut's sad but firm reply. 

"How did he do it?" Ole wished 
to know. 

"He hangs — he hangs in a north- 
westly direction from the house," the 
seer answered. 

"No sir, not he," Ole replied with 
a decided shake of his head, "we 
have searched there too." 

"I know," Knut answered, mildly, 
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"but you were searching about where 
the wife ran away from him after 
the quarrel. But when she turned 
away and ran towards the dwelling 
he followed her and you will find 
him hanging in a big fir tree quite 
near the house. You can easily see 
the fir from the lawn." 

Ole returned hastily, and together 
with the former school teacher and 
the sheriff they went up to the cot- 
tager's house, and from the lawn 
they discerned a big fir waving its 
head a little above the other trees. 
In that fir they found the poor fel- 
low's body — where it had been for 
four weeks. 

Kristian Kristiansen, a young man 
from Troen, Fron county, the State 

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of Gudbrandsdalen, emigrated to 
America in the early spring of 1869. 
He had an aunt over there to whom 
he was going. But month after 
month passed and no tidings came 
from Kristian. His mother, over- 
come by fear and grief, made up her 
mind to see Knut about it. She had 
a long laborious way to travel but 
reached the place at last on the 6th 
of July at three o'clock P. M. 

When Knut was asked if he could 
tell her whether her son Kristian had 
reached his place of destination or 
not, he became silent for a long 
while, and at last he said slowly, "I 
can't say exactly that he has." 

That was all he would say, and 
the mother discouraged by the bad 
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news went heart-broken to her quar- 
ters, without asking Knut further 
questions. 

The next morning as she was ap- 
proaching his hut she saw him com- 
ing towards her — "radiant and 
beaming like a child." 

"Yes, yes," he cried, "he has 
reached his place of destination all 
right. The boy is at his aunt's home 
now and looks fine. In fact," he 
added gleefully, "the boy is very 
happy and contented and has been in 
good health ever since he left home." 

A letter dated the 12th of July 
confirmed this statement. The boy 
had at length after many adventures 
reached his aunt's home the 6th of 
July at nine o'clock P. M. One 
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calls to mind that mid-day is six 
hours later in America. 

Simon Hovde, Ojer valley, had a 
son, called Mikkel, who, as a lad of 
nineteen ran away from home. His 
older brother Klement went to Knut 
to inquire about his brother's where- 
abouts. 

On his way to Knut he hired a 
Karjol (single-seated carriage) and 
speeded away as fast as he could. 

He reached his destination be- 
tween three and four o'clock on a 
Saturday afternoon. Knut, who 
had been out fishing in a mountain 
lake, returned just in time to see 
Klement drive up and stop at his 
house. 

"I could feel," said Knut, "that 

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somebody with a great sorrow in his 
heart was hurrying towards my 
home, so I made up my mind to 
leave the fishes alone and take a short 
cut homeward." 

Klement, as might be expected 
was very anxious to explain his er- 
rand but he was instantly interrupted 
by Knut. "I know your errand 
quite well but please don't let us talk 
about it to-day." 

Klement wisely yielded to the 
healer's wish and accepted Knut's 
friendly invitation to stay with him 
over night. 

And there they slept together in 
that little nest of a house far away in 
the mountains, "Erlandshuset" by 
name (The Erlandshouse) ; Klem- 

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ent, however, was too worried, too 
uneasy at heart to sleep much. 

"Your brother has just come home 
now," said Knut suddenly leaning 
on his elbow, "I notice that you're 
awake so I may just as well tell you 
the good news now as later." 

Knut was very happy to report 
such good news and added beam- 
ingly, "Your mother is just now 
eagerly questioning him about where 
he has been, which of course is not 
more than can be expected of an 
anxious mother. And now I'll tell 
you where the boy has been. 

"He first went to Lillehammer 
(quite a town in Norway.) There 
he met a fellow from Kjos, 
Ringerike, and he joined this fellow, 

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and together they went up to Kjos 
where he found work, but he didn't 
like the kind of work." (And Knut 
explained what kind of work it was.) 
"But what the boy disliked most of 
all was sleeping in the barn, and so 
he made up his mind to turn his nose 
homeward. But he won't stay long 
at home, oh, no, and it is best to let 
him have his own will because the 
boy is so inexperienced, you know, 
and must be allowed to put his abili- 
ties to a test." 

All this seemed to Klement, too 
exact, too circumstantial to be true, 
and he didn't put much faith in it. 

Knut, noticing Klement's distrust, 
smiled, and said to him as he 
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mounted the Karjol ready and anx- 
ious to leave for home. 

a Oh, don't fear, my lad, you'll find 
it all to be as I've told you," and 
patted him comfortingly on the 
shoulder. The young man speeded 
away and when he reached the place 
where he had hired the Karjol the 
preceding day, the people came 
rushing towards him, eager to meet 
him. They knew already that 
Mikkel had arrived safe the same 
night and were therefore more than 
curious to learn if Knut knew it too 
and had told the truth. It was Sun- 
day morning and all were at their 
homes. 

It is impossible to describe the 
people's astonishment when they 

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learned what Knut had told Klement 
in the night. And the latter's sur- 
prise, amazement and joy was not less 
than that of the others. As soon as 
he reached home he was met at the 
door by his beloved brother, whose 
narrative corroborated Knut's ac- 
count in every detail, 

The -next year Mikkel left for 
America. 

This happened in Knut's old age. 
In his younger days he felt such 
things so strongly and so irresistibly 
that he was compelled to leave home 
frequently and go to one or another 
that he felt was in distress. He 
was often aroused at night — not by 
any human being — and told to dress 
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hurriedly and go whereto he was 
called. 

Once in the middle of a dark 
stormy night he was rushed out of 
bed and hurried a long distance to 
call on a poor creature whom he 
found on the verge of insanity, 
driven into despair by jealousy and 
mistrust of his wife. 

In the year 1828 Knut was staying 
at Talloug in Gausdal. During his 
stay here he slept one night in the 
room that was occupied by the son 
of the house and about what hap- 
pened that night the son of Talloug 
relates as follows. 

"Knut was restless the whole 
night, and was reading and praying 
unceasingly. I myself had not a 
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single moment's sleep and was much 
frightened because he was so ugly 
to look at. He arose with the sun 
and dressed himself. 

" 'I've been restless and uneasy the 
whole night,' said Knut, 'and you 
haven't been able to sleep much 
either I suppose. I'll tell you,' he 
added, confidentially, 'a man arrived 
from Saksumsdalen during the night 
and he is very anxious to see me. 
I'm glad you're getting up, too, so 
you can tell him to come right up 
here. You will find him resting on 
the bench in the living room.' 

"But Knut and I had occupied a 
room on the second floor situated at 
the opposite end of the house. 
Neither he nor I could possibly have 

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heard the least sound of the arrival 
of a man or for that matter of any- 
thing going on in that part of the 
building. 

"I found the stranger resting on 
the bench, and I showed him im- 
mediately up to Knut. He didn't 
have a chance to cross the threshold, 
however, nor did he open his mouth 
to speak either, for Knut told him at 
once that he couldn't help the person 
who had sent him and that he ad- 
vised him to call a doctor as soon as 
possible. The man hurried out and 
left without having uttered a single 
word." 

In the spring of 1835 Knut was 
digging a well at Huseby farm, 
Hedemarken. 

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"It will be a troublesome Easter 
for you this year," he suddenly said 
to the mistress of the house as they 
were eating their supper on Good 
Friday. 

"No, no, indeed not," she an- 
swered, "we are going to stay at 
home by ourselves and celebrate a 
quiet Easter as usual." 

"I'm sorry, madame, but your're 
mistaken; lots of people will arrive 
from the East to-morrow to call on 
me." 

The next evening, Saturday night, 
fourteen persons from the Eastern 
State Odalen came to see him, hav- 
ing found out that he was working 
at Huseby. 

One morning, a few days later, he 

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was sitting at the breakfast table, 
when his right arm began to tremble, 
stretching itself towards the Eastern 
mountain. The spoon fell out of 
his hand, and the head followed the 
arm in a most uncanny w&y. 

"Those people will never let me 
alone," he said, "I've no peace." 

And such was often the case when 
someone was on his way to him or 
even thought of calling on him. He 
"felt" it, and suffered great bodily 
and mental agony. 

This, however, was not always so. 

Nor did he always "receive" mes- 
sages or was he "told" what to do. 
Many were those who sought his 
help in vain and had to leave as ill 
and troubled as they arrived. 
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It happened once at Dalbakken in 
Svastum, that he suddenly inter- 
rupted himself and exclaimed 
loudly, "There! At last they have 
found the man who lost himself 
up in the mountains last winter. 
They came to me, poor people, but 
in vain, but now they have found 
him," and he sang: 

"In a cave they found the lost, 
And now they pull at a dead man's 
corpse" 

He wasn't consulted merely about 
sickness, lost people, etc., but also in 
regard to lost cattle and other mis- 
fortunes. 

Very often was he sought by those 
who suffered from mental burdens 
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and needed a comforting word; for 
his ability to clear up a mystery, to 
comfort and heal a broken heart or a 
lost soul was simply marvellous. 

I shall now relate an occurrence 
which took place at Skar farm in 
Oier, a desolate place where Knut 
never had been. When I say 
"which took place" at the Skar farm, 
I don't mean exactly that it literally 
happened at the farm, in as much as 
those who were sitting talking to- 
gether were in a room at Aulestad 
in Svastum, where Knut just then 
stayed, consequently many miles 
from Skar. 

There are seven English miles to 
one Norwegian mile. 

(Johannes Skar, who is formerly 
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mentioned, was born and brought up 
on this farm.) 

But when I say that it "occurred at 
Skar," I only mean to say that their 
thoughts were together at Skar, 
which the following story will show. 

The people of Skar had made up 
their mind to have a well dug and 
sent a man to ask Knut where they 
should try to dig it. 

(Knut didn't go round any more 
and it was a common custom now to 
ask him where they should try to dig 
for water.) 

"I'm sent from a man in Oier 
county to ask you, Knut, where to 
search for water," began the man. 

"You are, are you?" said Knut 
with a smile, "indeed, — but isn't it 

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rather strange that they send to me 
for water from a place where they 
have good water in abundance every- 
where. Eh?" 

"No," answered the man, "there 
is no water to be found at the farm- 
house." 

"There is plenty of water just a 
little distance from the house from 
which you come. They have al- 
ready a well there ; if they dig a little 
deeper they will have water enough." 

"Yes," answered the man, "that is 
true, but they would like so much to 
have a well nearer the house, in the 
yard if possible." 

"Well," said Knut, "there is a 
grove opposite the dwelling. Do 
you know where it is? No? — 
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There is a way running there? — 

"No," the man answered, with a 
shake of his head, "the road doesn't 
run opposite the house, it runs be- 
low it and doesn't go through a grove 
either." 

"No, no," answered Knut impa- 
tiently, "I don't mean the main road; 
this looks more like a cattle-path 
than a road." 

"Oh, yes!" exclaimed the aston- 
ished farmer, "I know what you 
mean now, that's true." 

"Very well," continued Knut, "A 
birch stands in that grove, and un- 
derneath it is a spot where no grass 
seems to thrive. From that spot 
comes the jet." 

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The man said he knew well what 
birch he referred to. 

"But they have water still nearer 
the dwelling," Knut continued. 
"The old people's dwelling stands 
southward and near that is a little 
house, underneath that house runs the 
jet. 5 ' 

"That must be the old people's 
wood-shanty," said the man. 

"No, I hardly think so," answered 
Knut slowly, "it looks more like a 
booth to me." 

"Then it must be the Stabur (the 
warehouse) ." 

"Exactly," said Knut, "so it is." 

Knut went farther. 

"Most of the water," he continued, 
"runs north of the farm. There is 
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a water-vein that runs straight 
through a big rock. If you walk 
around it you will find a somewhat 
muddy spot on the other side of the 
rock; that's the original home of the 
vein. There is a cornfield alongside 
the rock." The man nodded. 
"Well, haven't you noticed a miuddy 
spot in the middle of the field and 
then again in the northwest corner 
of the field?" Knut asked. 

"Yes, there was once a well there, 
but it ran short," answered the mes- 
senger. 

"Because," replied the clairvoyant, 
"the jet runs a few yards farther 
north than where the well was. 
Only a little water came into the 
well" 

no 



WISE-KNUT 



The man now wished to know ex- 
actly where it would be best and 
easiest to dig the well. 

"Oh well, just take a twig and try 
to find the right spot yourself," was 
Knut's impatient reply. 

"All right," answered the farmer, 
in his slow way, "but we might not 
be able to hit the right spot after all." 

"Well then," said Knut, somewhat 
nervously, "the jet runs up to the 
surface exactly where it comes out 
from underneath the rock — or you 
can hit it three or four yards north of 
the barn, where after all it will be 
best and easiest to dig." 

On this spot they dug and found 
water easily indeed and in abun- 
iii 



WISE-KNUT 



dance, and here stands the well to 
this day. 

This conversation shows best how 
Knut gradually could work up his 
imagination to take possession of a 
place — first catching sight of some 
individual thing and then constantly 
adding more and more. 

The rectory in Fron parish was 
pulled down and rebuilt at quite a 
distance from the old site, and this 
removal made the way for water 
both long and difficult. The rector, 
Nielsen was his name, sent w T ord to 
Knut asking him if he could tell him 
where to find water nearer the old 
building. Nielsen tells about this as 
follows : 

"There is a little sinking in the 

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ground," began Knut, "and right op- 
posite is a big stone — that seems to 
be loose — yes, it must be quite loose. 
Well, there is the water to be found. 
There is also a green sinking in the 
ground nearer the new building. On 
that spot runs a still stronger vein, 
but there the well will have to be 
dug much deeper." 

"Knut," said Nielsen further (I 
use his own words), "lacked entirely 
all local sense; but we carried out his 
directions and found he had told the 
truth in every respect." 

Johannes Skar adds that the stone 
mentioned by Knut was to be seen 
yet (only a year ago), and the soil 
had surely enough once been dug 
away from it with an intent to use 
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the stone, but the idea had later for 
some reason been abandoned. 

The water-jet, which was found 
after Knut's assignment ran about 
eight feet deep, exactly where he had 
told them. 

The last two examples show forth 
his way of trusting to the support of 
those he talked with while he in his 
imagination took possession of a 
place. 

But other examples show — as we 
have seen — how he could come to 
full clearness at once without any as- 
sistance whatsoever. 

And again many examples reveal 
how he sometimes asked and asked 
and could see nothing and find noth- 
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ing and do nothing in spite of all his 
endeavors — as though he was entire- 
ly lost within himself — until he sud- 
denly (perhaps in the midst of a con- 
versation about other things) could 
see everything clearly, point out the 
places with marvellous exactness and 
find what people were in search of, 
whether human beings, cattle or 
water. 

He erred, however, especially in 
his old age. Thus many people dug 
for silver on his repeated order, but 
the mines thus found were not rich 
enough and the people suffered great 
losses. 

He also erred in finding lost cattle 
— a failure, he explained, by saying 
that the cattle moved about, not 
us 



WISE-KNUT 



standing still on the same spot await- 
ing the anxious searchers. But it also 
happened that he sometimes declared 
lost cattle to be dead when a few 
weeks later, the animals would ap- 
pear on the scene fat and fine, and 
vice versa. It's very likely of course 
that many of those who came to him 
misunderstood him; I myself know 
of such cases; but undoubtedly he 
also erred. 

If anyone asked Knut the reason 
for those failures and mistakes, he 
would answer, "I can't give more than 
I receive," or "I can't say more than 
what is whispered into my ear," (It 
was always through the "ear" he re- 
ceived his messages) "and,"-he com- 
monly added, "I'm told that what I 

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say is usually true." In this he was 
right; what he said was indeed found 
to be "usually true." 

If anyone asked him — and I know 
he was asked about this several times 
— "Hasn't the Tempter been out 
with his odious tricks trying to make 
you use your gifts in vain?" 

"Well," he would admit, "the 
Tempter may have duped me, but," 
he added, "to my best knowledge I 
don't know of any case in which I've 
used God's gift to me for any evil 
purposes or for my own benefit." 

And in this assertion he also was 
right without the slightest doubt. 
Indeed, if he ever felt proud of his 
gifts and fame it must have been 
when he was by himself in seclusion, 
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for with those few who made a 
friendly unselfish call upon him he 
preferred to speak about nature, and 
about God's goodness, wisdom and 
power. 

To him the wonders and beauty 
of the world were the surest and 
most remarkable proofs of an al- 
mighty, wise and all-loving God. He 
very seldom spoke about himself and 
never unless he was forced to do so. 
This is confirmed by all who knew 
him. 

In my heart of hearts I've a sus- 
picion, however, that his failures 
were all results of a surpassing good- 
ness. He would attempt to go far- 
ther than was possible in trying to 
help persistent people, many from 

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far districts and lands; and he 
couldn't "find things" when he was 
tired out or when he was suffering 
from harsh weather. 

His excuse for not being able to 
help was always the same, "God is 
punishing me." He bore all adver- 
sity and ridicule in this simple pa- 
tient way. 

But he wasn't scorned by any ex- 
cept those who didn't know him. 
Those who associated with him were 
all, believers or non-believers, his 
reverent friends, with full trust in his 
honesty and in his wonderful gift. 

But he didn't form any sect, party 

or clique, not even what is commonly 

called "a circle of friends." He did 

absolutely nothing in order to make 

119 



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y 



himself "generally recognized" as it 
is called. When people were kind to 
him (that is, treated him with 
friendliness and respect) he was 
happy and talkative. Moreover if 
they could understand his views and 
take part in his reflections on God 
and His conduct of the world then 
such an.hour became a bright blessed 
sunspot in his life. 

Many a talk with Knut has been 
written down and these talks all show 
a happy human being, a man of 
much thinking within his domain. 
His thoughts on things and people 
were the profound thoughts of the 
peasant with the peasant's prejudices 
and narrowly limited horizon. A 
friend of mine who often called on 

120 



WISE- KNUT 



Knut during his last days told me 
once that they often talked together 
about the spiritual life and that Knut 
often interrupted himself by saying, 
"A hymn is mentioned. Let us sing." 
Sometimes he said, "Wait, a number 
is whispered to me, but I don't know 
the hymn. Take the book and look 
the hymn up, please." The friend 
told me that he easily found the num- 
ber thus "whispered" into Knut's ear, 
and that the hymns always fitted the 
subject just discussed, explaining 
things and setting their thoughts 
aright. 

A slight touch of the supernatural 
such as this would be sufficient to 
grasp the minds of those living near 
by and set them wondering; but 

121 



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when thousands and thousands of in- 
stances are added, what then? 

If one wishes to hear all about this 
loving soul and about the miracles 
he did, let the inquirer go to the dis- 
% trict where the wonder-worker lived 
and died. It will pay anyone to do 
this. 

There was a most remarkable po- 
etic vivacity in him that could trans- 
form every painless moment into a 
bit of heaven. A devoted glance, a 
hearty word from those present 
would shut away entirely out of his 
life all those who were not "kind." 

The Bible was for a long time his 
only source of knowledge and it al- 
ways held the leadership. All his 
work had to be done in the name of 

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the Lord and it was to God he cried 
for help when he was to make use of 
his rare gift. This he never neglect- 
ed, he said, and he always offered 
his thanks to God when he was told 
that his cures had been successful or 
that he had been a comfort and help 
to people. His life was one long 
thanksgiving to God, though he en- 
dured sickness, poverty and bitter 
misjudgment. 

I can't refrain from relating one 
final story that comes from a farm 
where Knut once stayed. 

On his advice the owner dug a 
well in a certain place, but no water 
was to be found, and the men, deeply 
disappointed, were about to give it 
up. 

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"Because," said Knut, "you get 
impatient and don't dig deep 
enough !" And he added, "Be pa- 
tient and dig on, and in a short time 
you will reach down to a stone and 
underneath that stone is the water." 

And so it was. 

But when shall we be able to dig 
down to that big stone that conceals 
the true understanding of such a gift 
as his? 

When will that spring bubble up 
that shall slake our thirst for knowl- 
edge of the divine? 

Every single occurrence, rightly 
seen and truthfully told is a piece 
uncovered on the way to the spring 
hidden by the big stone. And this is 
my reason for putting the life of 
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Knut down and for giving it to a 
larger public. 

I'm extremely sorry for not hav- 
ing done so while he still was living, 
but I wasn't acquainted at that time 
in those districts where he lived and 
journeyed, but on the other hand 
only too well at home in the circles 
where he was scorned. 

He lived to be eighty-nine years 
old and kept his faculties and sound- 
ness of mind to the very last minute. 
He didn't go abroad much in his last 
years but kept within the walls of his 
dwelling, except for an occasional 
call on his nearest neighbors. 

Those who wanted him had to find 
their way up to his hut. 

He never failed to take part in the 
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WISE-KNUT 



Lord's Supper when it was possible 
to do SO; and to the end of his life 
prayer was the breath of life to his 
soul. 

His death was quiet. He lay feel- 
ing his pulse and asked, "Is it day or 
night?" several times. 

The bounds were not clear to him 
— as they run together when we stare 
too long at a riddle like the one we 
are facing here. 

He slept away. 



The End. 



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